Town Square

Is bullying or harassment a problem in schools?

Original post made
by jordan doronila, Danville Weekly reporter,
on Feb 21, 2007

Hey everyone,

I was at a school board meeting Tuesday night, and I heard a presentation from parents that bullying and harassment are big issues in the high schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

I was told by parents that some high schools allow or foster bullying and harassment to take place, despite telling administraters to stop the disruptive behavior.

I wanted to know from members of the community if this is true? Do you feel this is an issue? If so, how big of it is it an issue.

Thanks. -Jordan M. Doronila

Comments

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Posted by Hal Bailey
a resident of Alamo
on Feb 22, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Jordan,

Life is High School and too many people define their lives by the nastiness learned in that reality.

High School, by years of definition, is an alien environment that abuses the majority of students mentally, physically and with neglect of basic humanity. It is not reasonable to expect high
school to change until it is replaced with a legitimate learning environment that does not depend on peer pressure, gamesmanship and popularity as a culture. Parents prosper and continue that
abusive culture based on their own recollections of high school.

Bullies are simply a small part of the abuse that is established by an administrated competition.

Posted by MV Juniors '08!!
a resident of Monte Vista High School
on Feb 24, 2007 at 11:21 am

My aunt saw this blog and called me to ask me if it was true that bullying is a problem in my school. I told her that bullying was a large problem because kids try to be cool by being mean to eachother. She asked that I add to this blog and just let you know that bullying is a big problem that people don't really hear about because kids don't tell on eachother.

Bullying is a big problem. My child was bullied at both San Ramon and Charlotte Wood. The only way I found out was by a wonderful leader from the Town of Danville in the after school program at Charlotte Wood. My son wouldn't have told me. Most kids prefer to suffer in silence. On both occasions at Charlotte Wood, I directly called the bullies parent. I found that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. One parent denied that his son would do that, another father said "boys will be boys".
I have to say that had Rich Boschetti still been principal of Charlotte Wood, the manner would have been handled differently. Current people in those positions are more concerned with being friends with the bullies. Same thing over at San Ramon HS. Heaven help you if you try and rely on the campus monitors for help. They seem to make matters worse. My son was threatened with bodily harm for something the campus monitor handled poorly. The school vice principal said they couldn't do anything about it if a fight was going to happen off campus (even tho it clearly originated at school).
When a child is bullied, they often have scars for life. The bully, on the other hand, may grow out of this bad behavior and later recognize that what they did was wrong and even feel bad about it. The poor child that was bullied however, never really forgets and carries that awful and humiliating memory with him/her throughout their life and it may have long lasting effects on his/her self esteem.
Parents and schools must teach their kids how to protect themselves from bullies. There's few things worse than a bully.

Posted by Bainter the Painter
a resident of Alamo
on May 19, 2010 at 11:14 am

I am a painter. When I went to school the kids made fun of me. I had know lunch acause sometimes a mean one took my lunch money. Two big ugly guys once tackled me on my way to school and took my shoes, tyed them together and threw them over the telephone wires. We had not much money so Dad would cut my hair. He thought he did good but he did not. The kids at school would say,"Hey, Bainter! Who cuts your hair? An ax-murderer?!?". I did not like school, but I like to paint. When you see those shoes tyed together hanging over the wires think of the painter.

My daughter was bullied relentlessly by a "mean girl" at Charlotte Wood a few years ago. This mean girl would throw my daughter's backpack into the toilet on a daily basis and pretty much make my daughter's life miserable. My daugter never said a word to my wife or me. Finally the mean girl called our house and left a message on our home voice mail saying that my daughter would be dead in 10 days. Another girl witnessed the mean girl making the call to our house from a cell phone while she was waiting to be picked up from school and let us know who made the call. I went to the school the next day, met with the principal, explained the background and played the voicemail tape. The principal told me that the ongoing bullying was a "she said-she said" situation and hard to verify. The principal also told me that because the call was not made during school hours and was not made from school property the school had no authority to discipline the mean girl. I told the principal that I had a witness who saw the mean girl make the call from school property fifteen minutes after school. The principal still resisted becoming engaged. I then told the principal that if she did not handle the situation, I would take the tape to the Danville Police and let them handle the situation. The principal immediately changed her tone and brought in the vice principal for discipline. The mean girl ended up having to appologize to my daughter and she stopped throwing my daughter's backpack into the toilet. But after a couple of weeks the mean girl went right back to making my daughter's life miserable. We ended up taking my daughter out of Charlotte Wood and put her into a private school.